(1) Field
The invention relates to a liquid crystal display.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (“LCD”), which is one of the flat panel displays most widely used, typically includes two display panels on which field generating electrodes such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode are formed and a liquid crystal layer inserted therebetween, and displays an image by generating an electric field in the liquid crystal layer by applying a voltage to the field generating electrodes. The electric field determines alignments of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer through the electric field, thereby controlling polarization of incident light.
The LCD typically includes a switching element connected to each pixel electrode, a plurality of signal lines such as gate lines and data lines for applying a voltage to a pixel electrode by controlling the switching element and a driver for driving the display panel by applying a driving signal to the signal line.
The driver typically includes a gate driver for supplying a gate signal including a gate on voltage and a gate off voltage to the gate line of the display panel, a data driver for supplying a data signal to the data line of the display panel and a signal controller for controlling the data driver and the gate driver.
An LCD in a vertically aligned (“VA”) mode, in which, in a state where an electric field is not applied, longer axes of the liquid crystal molecules are vertically arranged with respect to the upper and lower display panels, among the LCDs has a high contrast ratio and easily implement a wide reference viewing angle, thereby getting the spotlight.
In the LCD in the vertically aligned mode, in order to implement a wide viewing angle, a plurality of domains having different alignment directions of the liquid crystals may be formed at one pixel.
A means for forming the plurality of domains as described above includes a method of defining a cutout such as a slit, for example, at the field generating electrode. According to the method, the liquid crystals are re-arranged by fringe fields formed between an edge of the cutout and the field generating electrode facing the edge of the cutout, so that the plurality of domains may be formed.
The LCD including a domain forming means includes a vertical alignment mode LCD in which the domain forming means are formed on both the upper and lower substrates, and a patternless VA mode LCD in which a micropattern is formed only on the lower substrate, and a pattern is not formed on the upper substrate, for example. A display area is divided into a plurality of domains by the domain forming means, and liquid crystals within each domain substantially incline in the same direction.